Yale-NUS College President's Speaker Series: William Deresiewicz on "The Purpose of Liberal Arts"

William Deresiewicz is an award-winning essayist and critic, a frequent college speaker, and the best-selling author of Excellent Sheep: The Miseducation of the American Elite and The Way to a Meaningful Life. He was a professor of English at Yale for ten years and a graduate instructor at Columbia for five. His essay “The Disadvantages of an Elite Education” has been viewed over one million times online. “Solitude and Leadership,” an address at West Point, has been taught across the military and corporate worlds.

Deresiewicz will address "The Purpose of Liberal Arts". Building on his controversial and inspirational best-seller Excellent Sheep: The Miseducation of the American Elite and The Way to a Meaningful Life, he will discuss the true purpose of a university education. What are the liberal arts, and what are they supposed to do for you? What gets lost when college is understood in exclusively practical terms? What are the forces that are acting on students and institutions today, and how can they best be resisted?

Q&A will follow the address.